total war
by Tobi Caboose
Summary: What happens when the great galactic empire finds the star trek universe while trying to stomp the infectious rebels! will they be best of buddies or will they conquer them with a iron fist! not good with summaries what do you think? republishing of my friend's fanfiction
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: Contact**

Admiral Kanos peered into the twisted vortex of hyperspace flashing by his observation window with an air of quiet reflection. It had been many years since the Great War. Many years since Emperor Anakin Solo had finally driven the New Republic from the core worlds. Already, the Emperor had rectified most of the New Republic's tampering with historical records, to reveal the truth about that dark period in galactic history.

It still brought a smile to his face, to think of how easy it had been for his master. How the aging Skywalker refused to believe that his beloved nephew had turned against him and his New Republic. It was still incomprehensible, how Skywalker could have been so foolhardy as to follow Solo to Korriban in his attempts to "save" the Emperor.

Now, his spirit was trapped forever on Korriban while Emperor Solo consolidated his control over the galaxy. _Fitting end for the hated Skywalker_, he mused to himself_. If only he could have seen how his beloved New Jedi were destroyed, and how his ridiculous patchwork of independent territories flocked to the Emperor's banner!_ He almost missed that heady time- this business of suppressing regional conflicts and hunting down New Republic remnants was tedious at best. At least the people of the galaxy finally seemed to be recognizing that only the central authority of the Empire could maintain the peace.

"Admiral, we have arrived at the Kerenos system. It appears your sources were correct- the traitor Athon has marshalled his forces here, along with the last remnants of the Mon Cal armada. We finally have them!"

"This has been a long time in coming, Captain. Launch all fighter squadrons. I assume the flanking groups are in position?"

"Yes Admiral, we have them trapped. Interdiction fields already active."

"Crushed between the hammer and the anvil, Captain. No need for subtlety- fire at will!"

The USS Carolina flashed through the emptiness of space like a falcon in pursuit of its prey, phaser fire erupting from its forward weapons array. Its quarry, a Jem'Hadar cruiser, left a flickering trail of superheated debris behind it as it fled its determined pursuers.

"Their shields are buckling, Captain. They have serious system damage, several hull breaches, and heavy casualties."

"Hail them. Give them one chance to surrender." Captain Trent wasn't sure that there was any point; the Jem'Hadar were not given to surrender. And he wasn't so sure he _wanted_ them to answer, knowing that they had killed Captain Harris and destroyed his ship.

"No answer sir. We have quantum torpedoes locked on."

"Send them to hell then. Fire." Captain Trent growled his orders from behind clenched teeth. _The only good Jem'Hadar is a dead Jem'Hadar_, Harris was fond of saying.

Four glittering quantum torpedoes hurled themselves from the Carolina's forward torpedo launchers, rapidly closing the distance on the Jem'Hadar cruiser. It was all over, and the Jem'Hadar would be a superheated gas cloud in seconds.

"Captain, they're gone!"

"What? What do you mean "gone"?"

"Some sort of wormhole, Captain. They haven't developed the ability to form transwarp conduits, have they?"

"Damned if I know, but I'm not letting him get away. Is the wormhole still open?"

"Yes sir, it even appears to be stable. It may be a semi-permanent conduit. Should I launch a class one probe to inspect the phenomenon?"

"Do it."

Captain Trent waited anxiously for the results. Every second that passed was another second for the Jem'Hadar cruiser to put space between itself and the wormhole terminus, wherever that was. _At least we managed to knock out its warp drive before it pulled its disappearing act!_

"Captain, the wormhole appears to be stable. It should be safe for travel. It may actually be a natural phenomenon- it would seem to be statistically improbable to say the least, but the Jem'Hadar may have stumbled upon it accidentally."

"Lucky bastards. Helmsman, move us in there. The Jem'Hadar can't get away from us that easily." Captain Trent felt his stomach churn and his senses reel as the ship seemed to twist for a moment and then accelerate into the wormhole. He didn't recall hearing of any such debilitating side effects associated with the Bajoran wormhole, but the ship seemed to be functioning normally even if its crew was on the verge of vomiting. The trip seemed to be taking hours, but he doubted it had been more than a minute or two before the flickering vortex of the wormhole abruptly transformed itself into the familiar curtain of night.

"Oh my god" Trent breathed. "Where the hell are we?"

The scene that greeted Trent's eyes was one of unbridled carnage. Everywhere he looked, he could see starships, enveloped in storms of energy. Explosions dotted the starry sky, and four ships flared up like exploding suns before his eyes. As he watched, two stricken starships, their backs alive with flame, hurtled suicidally into a much larger starship and exploded harmlessly against its shields.

"Mr. Portugal, tactical evaluation!"

"We have approximately one hundred and twenty thousand sensor contacts sir. Everything from tiny one-man fighters to ships the size of San Francisco. We count roughly two thousand capital ships, ranging from under one kilometer in length to more than twenty kilometers. The rest appear to be fighters."

Captain Trent let out a long slow whistle. "Hell of a party. Who's winning?"

"It looks like a massacre sir. One group of ships seems to be surrounded by five other groups, which are pounding it from all sides."

"Luckily for us, this isn't our war. What happened to the Jem'Hadar?"

"No sign of it, sir. There's unbelievable interference here. I've got heavy subspace jamming on all frequencies and massive gravitational distortion fields, so the sensors are almost useless. For all we know, they crashed on that planet below."

"Stay close to the wormhole, Lieutenant. Maybe we can pick up that damn Jem'Hadar's trail again, and besides, I'm sure Federation HQ will want as much data as possible on this new civilization we've encountered, whoever they are. Do you have any idea where we are yet?"

"Sir, we've left the Milky Way galaxy. It looks like we're on the other side of the known universe. We're definitely not in Kansas anymore."

Trent managed a wry smile. "Thank you, Lieutenant. Can you determine anything about those warships?"

"Other than their sheer size and numbers, not much. They're using an unknown power source, and I don't read any sort of warp signature at all. They seem to be using various types of high-powered directed-energy weapons, and I'm picking up a lot of thermonuclear explosions out there, probably from torpedoes of some sort."

"Captain, I must voice my strongest objections to staying here. Whoever these people are, they are clearly dangerous and hostile, and the longer we stay here the higher the likelihood is that someone will notice us." Commander Chang was growing visibly agitated.

"Your objection is noted, Commander. But we have standing orders to investigate all new life forms and civilizations, and this definitely qualifies, does it not? Just keep us close to that wormhole. Mr. Portugal, can you scan anything on that planet below?"

"The planet is massively industrialized, Captain. Roughly two hundred billion inhabitants, and they appear to have an almost impenetrable deflector shield operating, which protects the entire planet. We could ram that shield at full impulse and not make a dent, Captain."

"Must be a pretty damned important planet- this is one hell of a firefight."

"Captain, we have a new sensor contact! It came out of nowhere ... it's big ... it's some sort of huge spherical ship, roughly _nine hundred kilometers_ in diameter! It's approaching the planet ... I'm picking up a massive power surge ..."

As Captain Trent watched in disbelief, a series of enormous green energy beams shot forth from the vessel's weapons array. They converged on a single point which seemed to build for a moment, seething with raw energy. He watched in an almost hypnotic trance as the roiling, seething energies suddenly formed into a beam, and lanced out at the planet below. Horror was quickly followed by reaction.

"_Helmsman, get us out of here!_"

The USS Carolina lurched and turned away from the doomed planet of Kerenos IV. As the Death Star's blast pumped an ungodly amount of energy into Kerenos IV's core, 200 billion lives were extinguished in one screaming instant of terror. The stupendous explosion hurled the mass of the planet outwards like shrapnel from a monstrous bomb.

The Carolina was buffeted like a leaf in a hurricane. Countless pieces of planetary debris battered her shields, and Captain Trent had a vague sensation of warmth on his back as he was thrown from his chair. He staggered to his feet and turned to see the rear of the bridge enveloped in flames, with crewmen running and shouting in what seemed to be slow motion. He saw two crewmen running toward him as if to tackle him and thought to ask himself why.

"Captain, don't move!" He could feel strong hands on his arms and legs, picking him up and laying him on his side. His back was going numb, and he could vaguely feel his jacket being removed. As he lost consciousness, he could see that his jacket was soaked in blood.

Commander Chang looked down at his captain. "Is he going to live?" He wanted his own command, but not this way.

"He'll make it Commander. I hope."

"Damn it, we're going to do what we should have done when we first came to this place. We're getting out of here, if we still can. Damage report!" Commander Chang barked.

"We've lost main power and shields are down, but antimatter containment is holding and we still have auxiliary power. We can still limp back to the wormhole under impulse power, Commander."

"Take us out of here, helmsman. If the Jem'Hadar are still alive, I can't think of a better fate for them than to be trapped in this place."

The crippled starship began to turn. Without warning, the ship stopped as if in the grip of an invisible fist, and began to move backwards.

"Helmsman, what's happening?"

"We're caught in a tractor beam, Commander. It's originating from that giant spherical ship."

"Can you break free?"

"I'm applying all the power I can, sir. We're not going anywhere."

_Damn you, Captain Trent!_ "All hands abandon ship. Repeat, all hands abandon ship! Computer, this is Commander Chang, acting Captain. Initiate auto-destruct sequence, two minute timer. At least I can make sure they won't get the Carolina ... "


	2. Chapter Two: Machinations

Chapter Two: Machinations

"All warfare is based on deception."− Sun Tzu

The U.S.S. Carolina tumbled end over end in space, its warp nacelles trailing plasma

and flickering debris into the darkness. Flames could be seen burning inside the hull.

Inside the bridge, the stench of death and burning flesh permeated the air. Commander

Chang sat in his chair, and willed himself to get up and run for an escape pod. But he

couldn't move− he screamed silently at himself to get up and run, but his feet seemed to

be welded to the deck. He screamed, and railed at the monstrous, implacable starships on

his viewscreen. The flames tore through the bridge, and he could feel his body being

engulfed in flame. The searing heat ... the pain ...

Chang woke with a start, and reminded himself that he was still alive. The same damn

nightmare over and over ... maybe it's my mind's way of telling me I should have stayed

on the bridge, he mused grimly. Instead, he was painfully pulling himself to a sitting

position on the hard metallic bed, in a solitary prison cell. And he was wondering what

happened to his crew. More than six weeks of waiting, and wondering. I wonder if they

want me to die of boredom ...

Suddenly, abruptly, the cell door shot upwards and a man of regal bearing stepped in,

flanked by a pair of white−suited soldiers. He reached into his tunic, pulled out a

Federation universal translator, and casually threw it on the hard metal floor. It clattered

and bounced into the corner of the room, and Chang immediately picked it up.

"Mister Peter Chang, I believe? That's an interesting toy you have there. It took a little

while to program it for Basic, but some of your men were kind enough to render

assistance." The man was a full head taller than Chang, with black hair that was flecked

with white at the temples. He had the bearing of a man accustomed to power and

influence, and continued without waiting for a reply. "I am Admiral Kanos, and I would

like to extend official greetings from the Empire."

Chang blinked, unsure of what to say. "My crew−"

Kanos cut him off in mid−sentence. "Your crew is alive and well, except for those

who were unfortunate enough to perish with your ship, and a small number who were

injured during interrogation, before we realized you were not affiliated with the rebels on

Kerenos Four. All injured crewmen have been given medical attention, I assure you."

"Injured during interrogation? What right do you have−"

"We have the right granted to us under Imperial law, and you were trespassing in

Imperial territory!" Kanos snarled. "In case your memory is deficient, you mysteriously

appeared in the midst of a major engagement, and when we tried to render humanitarian

aid to your damaged vessel you immediately self−destructed your ship! As far as we

were concerned, you were probably a new faction of rebel collaborators." He paused, andhis expression darkened. "And as of this moment, we still have no concrete evidence to

the contrary."

"Mister, we don't know who you are, who these rebels are, or how we got here. We're

just travellers who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I want to see my crew

now."

"You are hardly in a position to make demands, Mister Chang. But very well, I will

take you to them ... after we discuss terms."

"Terms?"

"Terms of surrender. Your Federation, to the Empire."

Chang stood dumbfounded. "You can't be serious. We're not even at war!"

Kanos' expression was impassive, but his voice was laden with menace. "Not yet."

"We have no intention of surrendering to anyone, Admiral. And even if we did, I

don't have the authority to negotiate anyway."

"Nevertheless, I intend to discuss terms. If not with you, then with the Federation

president on Earth. We might also wish to send envoys to the Romulan, Klingon, and

Cardassian territories. But I need you, to verify to your leadership that my intentions are

genuine."

Chang felt an icy sensation in the pit of his stomach. "How do you know about Earth

... the Klingons−"

Kanos smiled. "Your crew was kind enough to furnish me with an extravagant amount

of information once they were properly ... motivated, and our scouting missions through

the wormhole have confirmed their reports. It is fortunate that you dropped by when you

did, because the wormhole was starting to destabilize and we were forced to use

hyperspace tunnelling equipment to stabilize it again. Another week, and it would have

collapsed completely."

"And if I refuse?"

Kanos said nothing for an uncomfortably long time, and then said quietly "then I will

torture your crewmen to death, one by one, until you agree. I promise you that their

deaths will be grisly, and exquisitely painful. If you require a demonstration of my

willingness to carry out this threat−"

"No!" Chang blurted out. "I believe you." he sighed heavily, and continued. "I'll come

with you to Earth. But I want a guarantee that my crew is safe, I want to see them before

I leave, and I expect that they will be released after I fulfill my end of the agreement."

Might as well angle for as much as possible, he thought to threw his head back and laughed. "Agreement? I like a brave man, Mr. Chang.

But there is no agreement. I am dictating terms and you will accept them. But in the

interest of humanitarianism, I will agree that no further harm will come to them if you do

as you are asked, and I will release you into Federation custody upon the completion of

our expedition. The prisoners have been interred on an Imperial base located about

fifteen light years from here, and you will be allowed to see them before we leave. But

they are prisoners of war, and they will not be released until the Federation surrenders to

the Empire."

Sensing that he wasn't going to get anything more, Chang agreed. After changing into

a clean uniform, he was herded into a docking bay of vast proportions. A Lambda−class

shuttle, looking insignificant in the cavernous docking bay, sat waiting for him. Kanos

spoke in an imperious tone. "Commander Chang, I trust that you will not be foolish

enough to attempt escape. You will find your restraints to be unbreakable, and your

guards to be capable of exercising any force necessary. I trust we understand each other?"

Chang nodded and headed into the shuttle, flanked by a pair of stormtroopers. As the

shuttle roared out of the docking bay, Chang caught his breath as he looked out the side

windows. The pilot grinned. "Never seen an Executor−class ship up close eh, stranger?

They're expensive, but worth it."

Chang said nothing, as he gazed out the window at the gleaming red city−sized

behemoth they had just left behind. "What did you say it was called?" he asked.

The pilot was nothing if not talkative. "They told me you're not from around here ...

are you from the Corporate Sector or something? Anyway, we just left an Executor−class

command ship. It's a battleship, more than seventeen kilometres long, and this one's

name is Crimson Blade. They're normally not blood−red like that, but Kanos must have

friends in high places, because it couldn't have been cheap to dress up a ship that big.

Know what I mean?"

Good, thought Chang. This guy loves the sound of his own voice, so keep him talking

... "What about those other ships?"

"You mean the ships flanking the Blade? They're just regular Star Destroyers, and

they're the escort. The rest of the fleet is too far away to see with the naked eye, but it's

in formation near the Death Star, over there." He jabbed his finger almost directly

upwards, and Chang craned his neck to see. The enormous bulk of the Death Star was

clearly visible even at this great distance, and Chang recognized it instantly.

"So they call it the Death Star, eh? Nice name." Chang tried to inject a friendly

bantering tone into his voice.

"That's right. I've been in the fleet for eight years, and I never thought I'd get to see

them fire that thing off. But when I got transferred to this outfit, I just knew I'd get to see

a planet blow sooner or later, and boy, did I ever! Did you see it too?" The pilot grinned

his toothy grin again, and Chang felt sick to his stomach. Billions of lives ended, and thissnickering pilot thinks it's funny! He tried to calm himself. "Yeah, I saw it ... heh heh" he

laughed weakly. "So, how does it work?"

"Do I look like Bevel Lemelisk to you? It's got the biggest superlaser ever built, and it

blows the planet up. What's to know?"

"But does it use a nucleonic chain reaction, or a subspace inversion, or does its

reactor−"

"Hang on a minute, buddy. We've cleared traffic and we're ready for the jump. Here

we go!" The pilot pulled a lever, and Chang watched as the stars blurred into streaks of

light and collapsed into a swirling vortex. Obviously not warp drive, he thought to

himself. After a couple of minutes, he pushed the lever back, and they abruptly

decelerated back into realspace, in orbit over a planet.

"Are we ... there already?" Chang asked hesitantly.

"Of course. It's only fifteen light years, and it's a good space lane. Hell, I could make

it from here to Dantooine in less than six hours" the pilot bantered. Chang's mind was

racing. Fifteen light−years in less than 2 minutes! It would take more than 3 days at

warp 9 ... He stared glumly at the floor. The Federation doesn't even know what's

coming. Perhaps if I'd tried to fight instead of abandoning ship. Perhaps if I had self−

destructed the ship without evacuating, so they wouldn't have any prisoners to

interrogate ...

The shuttle suddenly rocked violently. The pilot swore under his breath, and began

frantically operating the controls. "We're under attack! Going to active scans ... I'm

picking up a half−dozen corvettes, one light cruiser, and four squadrons of fighters.

They're pounding the hell out of that base down there ... they must be trying to rescue

the prisoners. Time to get out of here ..." He reached for the lever, but he never made it.

Chang heard the sound of an energy weapon being discharged, and the pilot fell to the

deck in a crumpled heap. It came from one of the stormtroopers, who coolly targeted and

fired upon the other trooper before the stunned man could react. He fell lifeless to the

floor, and the gunman coolly stepped over the corpse and unlocked Chang's binders.

Chang tried to keep his composure. "Is this a rescue?"

"Damned right" came the reply. The stormtrooper removed his helmet and spoke

quickly. "We're grabbing you, your crew, and about five thousand other prisoners at the

base. They just set it up a few weeks ago, and they don't have their shield up and

running. This is our only chance to pull this off cleanly. I just hope no one got any

distress calls out before we got the jammers going ..." Over the next fifteen minutes, the

small group of starships and transports extracted the prisoners, tractored the shuttle into a

docking bay, and demolished the base with exacting precision.

After debarking from the shuttle, Chang was quickly escorted to the cruiser's bridge

to watch the operation unfold. He stepped onto the bridge to face a reptilian creature,sitting in the command chair. The creature stood, extended a webbed hand in greetings,

and croaked "Greetings, Commander Chang of the United Federation of Planets. I am

Captain Ruk. Our operation is nearly complete, and you will be able to speak with your

crew shortly. The transports are almost away−" He was cut off by a screeching alarm

klaxon.

"Super Star Destroyer coming out of hyperspace! It's coming in fast, it's red ... it's the

Crimson Blade!" a crewman barked. "I don't know how he knew, but Kanos is here!"

Captain Ruk responded immediately. "Break formation, prepare to jump! The Blade is

accompanied by an interdictor cruiser, but it will take at least twenty seconds for their

gravity well projectors to fire up. Protect the transports until they can make the jump!"

The rebel starships fired their maneuvering thrusters and their engines bloomed to full

radiance as they quickly moved to fill the gap between the transports and the Crimson

Blade. Vast swarms of starfighters were boiling out of the Crimson Blade and its escorts,

and the emptiness of space was quickly filled with the radiant flashes of exploding

fighters and dying men.

The rebel ships performed their grim duty, and placed themselves directly in the line

of fire. Their turbolasers fired long−range shots at the Crimson Blade, a useless gesture

against the larger vessel's powerful shields. To the gunnery crews on the Crimson Blade,

it didn't matter whether they scored kills on corvettes or transports, and they did not

hesitate to return fire. Their heavy turbolaser batteries quickly targeted the hapless Rebel

corvettes, and enormous bursts of green radiant energy filled the empty void between

them and their targets. Commander Chang watched in dismay as a coruscating green

blast of energy struck a corvette and completely vapourized it. The Crimson Blade's

gunners were among the finest in the fleet, and their accuracy was unerring. They fired

again, and a second corvette sublimated into a cloud of durasteel vapour. And a third.

And a fourth. But by now, both transports had made the jump to hyperspace, and the

battered remains of Captain Ruk's force escaped with them.


End file.
